


Studio of Nightmares

by Captain_Randomness



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Gen, Some angst, bendy can talk in this, elizabeth is special to both bendy and Henry( but in different ways), partly goes Against cannon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2020-03-07 01:50:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18863308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Randomness/pseuds/Captain_Randomness
Summary: Elizabeth was always told that she should never go to Joey Drew Studios. But when her father receives a letter from Joey Drew himself and doesn’t come back, she decides she should go looking for him.Unknowingly she plunged herself into dangers unknown and being followed by a certain ink demon.





	1. Nightmares come to life

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic. So I’m hoping you enjoy it. This is my second attempt at posting this as the first copy sounded horrible.

Joey Drew Studios stood out among the countryside, with its rotting exterior. It was a wonder that it was even standing. So when Elizabeth rode her bike here, she thought she had the wrong place. That was until she saw her father's car parked outside. 

She opened the door. It creaked loudly enough that it could probably be heard for miles. Eliza thought about what her father had told her about this place. It had been only a couple things he had told her. Things that hadn’t mattered much, like how he had been an animator for the studio, where he worked and all of his co-workers. She sighed, thinking about this just made her miss him more. 

He had gotten a letter from his old boss. Something about her father needed to be shown something, Eliza couldn’t remember exactly. Her father had left about four days ago. But never came back. So when her mother was busy she set off to find him.

The floor is covered in black ink. It looked like a horrible paint job. The more she looked around the more Eliza realized that the walls looked like that too. Random spots of ink all over. How would they have gotten there? She reached up and touched on. It was wet. How long did it take for ink to dry? It had been what, more than a decade at least, since the studio had been in business. 

An acrid smell reached her nose. What was that? It smelled like something decomposing. She followed the smell and immediately regretted it.

Sitting up on a metal slab was a creature, who had it’s chest ripped open. Ink was squirting out of the hole. It was one of the characters from the bendy cartoons. Boris. The smell was even worse up close. She walked around it. Who had cut him open? Her father? No, she doubted that. She tripped over a loose board pon the floor and fell through the wall. The wall? How did she fall through the wall? She dusted herself off and looked up. Standing there was a wooden cutout. It was of a puppet.

“What the heck is this?” She asked, unsurprisingly nothing responded. She backed up and ended up going through the wall again. She shuffled out of the room.

A sign hung on the wall. Directions to different parts. The animation studio, the ink machine. What was that? Elizabeth really wanted to know but decided to go to the place that made the most sense of where her father was, the animation room.

She didn’t have to go far to find her father's desk. It was set outside of the others with an old dusty name tag that read “Henry”. Eliza could imagine her father spending countless days and nights sitting in this small wooden chair animating. A resounding bang echoed throughout the halls. Eliza snapped out of her thoughts. Where had that came from?She ran out of the animation portion and to the main room. 

“Dad?” She called out. Was it her father who had made that noise? The sound happened again. It sounded like it came from the hallway. The one labeled Ink Machine. She took off down that way, calling her fathers name the entire way. Stopping only when she tripped over a upraised pipe. She gripped her knees in pain. The skin was ripped open and full of splinters. She pulled them all out and stood up. A doorway was boarded up. It wasn’t done very well so she could easily slip through the boards. A giant machine hangs from the ceiling, which she assumed was the ink machine. 

The room took on a cold feeling. Elizabeth could feel an eerie presence in the room. She turned around and tried to climb through the boards when a noise like a cough happened behind her. She slowly turned around and standing there was a creature from nightmares. It stood about seven feet tall. One of its hands was in the shape of a claw while the other as sort of like a cartoon hand. A large smile was plastered on its face, although it didn’t look genuine. She saw inky lines appearing on the walls. 

“Who are you?” it asked her. It’s smail didn’t move as it talked. The sound though echoed throughout the large room. It sounded like several voices talking at once.

“uh...Elizabeth.” She said momentarily stunned. It could talk?

“Does your last name happen to be Stein? As in your fathers name is Henry?” It asks. Elizabeth froze, her breath hitched in her throat.

“...Yes…” Elizabeth replied. What was this creature? How did it know her father's name. It seemed to give her a genuine smile.

“Let me guess.” He said. “You’re looking for your father.” She went to open her mouth to respond but the creature cut her off.

“You are a lot like Henry, and not just by looks. He told me all about you. I’m gonna guess you saw the letter this time.” This time? What did he mean by that and her dad had told him about her? She started to ask it her questions when it cuts her off for the second time. 

“Don’t speak, just listen. Being in the studios means you’ll be stuck in a time loop. Sometimes me and Henry remember, sometimes we don’t. No one else has been able to remember. But in all loops one thing is the same, you never show up. But this time’s different. You came. Now I think you’re the key to getting us out of here. I know where your father is at. I can bring you to him. But first I need your help.” Loops? What type of loops was it referring too? The demon asked her again if she wanted to help her father.

“Yes more than anything b.” Eliza said. It told her the plan and she backpedaled on what she said before.

“Why should I trust you? I don’t even know who you are.” she asked it.

“You don’t recognize me? I’m not surprised, I look a lot different now. I know your father would draw me with you.” it said . She thought about that. One of her earliest memories was her dad teaching her how to draw. 

“Your Bendy, the cartoon my father created as a character for the studio.” She told him. The creature laughed hoarsely, like he hadn't laughed in ages.

“If you want to survive the studio you’ll need to do what I say.” “Bendy” said drawing closer to her.. Elizabeth thought about the offer and after a few tense minutes agreed. A tingling sensation shot through her body. Her eyes saw spots before crumbling into a heap on the ground.

Henry felt the familiar ache in his chest and knew the demon was close. He looked over at Boris, who was blissfully unaware of the danger. Henry saw no telltale signs of ink on the walls. He sighed and went back to collecting the cans of bacon soup. He heard the faint sound of a door opening and closing. 

After giving Boris the soup and putting the handle in the door, Henry stepped out into the hall. Boris followed the man. Being in the studio meant that you don’t meet a lot of sentient creatures. But Henry was different, he was somewhat like Boris, he was able to think, act, react and play games. A thing Boris liked about the man. Henry wandered down the hall, every so often looking back at the taller toon.

Henry opened the door to the little miracle station and was surprised at what he found. Laying in the wooden box was a sight he’d never thought he’d see, his only child asleep inside of it. He pulled her out of the box and laid her on the floor. 

Boris walks over to the man and looks at him. Henry looks up at him and Boris points to the body.

“That’s my daughter, Elizabeth.” Henry told the taller toon. Boris tilted his head in confusion. Henry had a daughter? Now that Boris thought about it he had heard Henry talking about someone named that in his sleep.

“How did she get here?” Henry asked. Boris shrugged, how was he supposed to know? He had never left the lower levels.

“Sorry, it was rhetorical.” Henry told the toon


	2. Angels and Demons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth awakes to find her father and Boris. Now reunited they go and explore the studio. With jumpscares and Demons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope this is better than the first draft of chapter one, i did go back and fix it as best as I could. I'll probably go back and fix several thing nut i will upload Chapter 3 as soon as possible.

Elizabeth woke up to the sound of a voice calling her name. She groggily opened her eyes. Standing above her was a face she recognized. She leapt up and hugged the figure tightly, never wanting to let go.

“Eliza? How did you get here?” Henry asked her, still hugging his daughter. He hadn’t expected his daughter to show up to the studio.

“I rode my bike here.” She said, matter-of-factly. Henry frowned. The studio was about an hour drive from his house and you could easily get there. 

“I mean how did you get down here.” 

“You mean we’re not on the first floor?”

“No. We’re down in the deeper levels.” Henry told her. Elizabeth froze, why couldn’t she remember how she got down here? She looked around where she was. She was sitting on the floor of a hallway. A small box was sitting behind them with the door wide open.

Elizabeth looked behind her father to see a cartoon. A Boris, just like the one with it’s chest ripped open. How was he alive? Elizabeth stared at the tall toon. He looked exactly like the one upstairs and the one from the cartoon.

“Boris, this is my daughter, Elizabeth. Elizabeth, this is Boris.” Henry told the two. Eliza climbed out of Henry’s embrace and walked over to the toon. She held out her hand and Boris shook it. Beside the toon was a Bendy cutout. Eliza shivered. It felt like the cutout was watching her.

The hallway was dark. Not the type of black that you could just barely see, the type where you couldn’t see your hand even if it was right in front of you. The flashlight that was lying on the desk beside them conveniently was a big help.

Eliza followed her father into said darkness. The flashlight barely helped, cause when she looked back Boris was cowering in the dark. Elizabeth was overcome with a want to protect the toon. She couldn’t figure out why that was but she just knew that she should. What was bad about that? She reached out and grabbed the cartoons hand and gave him a hug.

“Don’t worry Boris. Dad will keep the light close and I’ll be right beside you.” Eliza told the cartoon. Henry looked back at them. He had been surprised to find his daughter here, but seeing her comforting Boris was nice, especially because of what would happen. A loud bang snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Did you hear that?” Henry asked them. Both of them shook their heads, not wanting to admit that they had heard it. If they didn’t hear it nothing was there.

“Ya, me neither.” Henry said before carrying on. He had never liked hallways like this. It was dark, and ink was splattered through out and you never knew if a searcher or anything else was going to come out.

The door was huge and completely closed off. Boris watched as the two humans looked at the door. He liked both of them, he really did, but there was something off about the girl. He was reminded of something. 

He shook his head. They needed to get out of here. Boris looked around the room and found a vent on the wall. He opened it up and grabbed the light from Henry. He climbed through and went to open the door.

“So I guess we wait here?” Eliza asked her father.

“Guess so.” A few moments later the door opened and the duo went through.

The ink demon was the most feared creature in the entire studio. He could kill without touching and could pop up at any moment. Yet he could be seen, if you were careful enough, following the humans around the studio. Either watching them through the eyes of a bendy cutout of tailing them in person.

He watched as they entered the heavenly toys workshop. He heard Henry say the same thing he always had when he entered. Then he would walk up the stairs and go into the workshop and start up the toy machine. Alice would give them a little scare then they would do her dirty work. 

“Bendy” watched them listen to the tape. Good. If he kept nudging them they could do what he wanted. He looked at Elizabeth. She was climbing to reach a toy stuck in one of the belts. Soon he could reveal the deal he had made with her and its side effects.

The room was filled with Alice Angel merchandise. The walls were covered in it. There was glass coven filled with it. The lights shut off abruptly and Elizabeth moved closer to her father.

The little TVs in the room turned on and showed a still of Alice Angel herself. A peppy little song played and a shiver went down Eliza’s spine. It sounded a little creepy, if she was being honest.

A bead of sweat went down her face. It didn’t feel like sweat, it felt more like ink. Ink? She was probably standing under a leaking board. That was it. Just a board leaking above.

She stepped forward toward the recording booth. The light turned on, making her even more curious. She heard Henry make a noise of protest, but she ignored it but afterwards wished she hadn’t. A figure appeared in the glass, causing her to fall backwards. 

“I’M ALICE ANGEL!” She yelled. She screamed once more and broke the glass. Elizabeth felt the glass fall on top of her and flinched as pieces stabbed into her arm.

All of a sudden everything went deathly quiet. The sound of the machinery in the background was diminished and all that could be heard was Henry and Elizabeth’s breathing.

“I see you there.” Elizabeth froze. It came from right behind her. “A new fly in my endless web.” 

Henry’s eyes raked the room, frantically searching for his daughter. He always hated this part. No matter how hard he tried he could never see anything in this room until the lights were turned back on.

“Come along now. Let’s see if you’re worthy to walk with angels.” The lights turned on and Henry rushed over to Elizabeth. She held up her arm. There were pieces of glass stuck to it. She carefully pulled the pieces out and set them on the ground.

Henry helped his daughter up and they walked out of the room. A bendy cutout was leaning on a barrel that they passed. Though they didn’t know it, “bendy” was watching them through that cutout. He watched them walk down the hallway and stop at the fork in the road. Good. Now he needed Elizabeth to go down the demon path.

“The angel or the demon.” Eliza said, reading the signs. She peered into both the rooms. She couldn’t see much from either. She felt a tugging sensation. It was the same feeling in the hallway when she comforted Boris. This time it was the demon path. She walked toward it while her father walked toward the other. 

Henry heard a slamming noise and recognized as a metal door closing. He looked behind him and noticed his daughter wasn’t there. He ran to the fork and heard banging on the metal door.

“Dad!” Eliza yelled. She banged on the metal wall harder. She had gone down the hall and the something had come down and now she was stuck in this hallway. What if she never found her dad again? 

“Eliza. I’ll meet you on the other side.” Henry yelled through the door. Eliza nodded, even though she knew he couldn’t see her. 

The ink demon watched the two get separated. Elizabeth down the demon path, and Henry down the angel. The demon path was the one he, the ink demon controlled. He had put Joey’s tape in there, now all he had to do was wait.

The room was covered in ink. There was a pillar of the stuff in one corner. Sitting on a chair, completely ridden of ink, was an audio log. Elizabeth walked into the room and played the audio.

“There’s nothing wrong with dreaming. Wishing for the impossible is just human nature. That’s how I got started. Just a pencil and a dream.”

Was that true? Elizabeth doubted it. She had seen her fathers sketchbooks from when he was a little older than her. They were filled with drawings of bendy and his friends. She knew that Joey Drew had never created a cartoon in his life, at least not a very good one. All he did was boss people around. 

“Belief can make you rich. Belief can make you powerful. Why with enough belief, you can even cheat death itself.” Cheat death? How was that even possible? “Now that… is a beautiful, and positively silly thought.”

Elizabeth stares at the audio log. Did Mr. Drew actually believe what he had said? She looked around the room. The ink was starting to bubble. She didn’t think that was normal. 

She started to walk away when she tripped over a board. She fell into the ink, surprised to find it so deep. She pulled herself out and looked behind her. It looked like she had tripped over a board floating in the ink, but the board hadn’t been there before. Had it? She climbed out into the hallway.

The hallway was echoing with every step Elizabeth took. The faint sound of liquid dripping on metal reached her ears with something else. Talking? Who was talking? It sounded like several voices talking at once. Elizabeth vaguely remembered hearing it before. But where?

Elizabeth tried to wiped the ink of her body, but soon realized that is was futile, the ink had already become stuck to her skin and clothes. It didn’t help that not even two minutes later more ink dripped from the ceiling onto her. 

At the end of the hall sat yet another door(what a surprise). Just like the other ones it wasn’t labeled. She opened the door and wandered down the hallway. She gave a yelp of surprise when a bendy cutout popped out from behind a corner. She slowly stuck her head around the corner and laughed. Standing there was boris and her father.

“You scared me.” She said. Henry opened the door and stepped through the door. This was the part he hated about the studio. He did the angels tasks and all he got in return was boris dying and getting trapped deeper in the studio. It was made even worse when his daughter showed up. 

Henry lead Elizabeth through the hall. Just get the lever and leave. Elizabeth flipped the switch. Henry flinched, waiting for the piper to pop out. But nothing came. He turned around and walked back to Boris.

Elizabeth turned to follow her father when something caught her eye. The poster was bulging. A creature popped out, screaming. She raised her arm and felt a pain shoot up her body. The piper went after her again. She pushed it away. Scrambling away she thrust her arms out again. Ink flew out and wrapped the creature. The piper started to gag. Soon enough the creature dissolved and sank into the floorboards. 

Elizabeth jumped as she felt something touch her shoulder. Henry stood behind her. He looked at her, She had tears on her eyes and her arm was bent and red. Henry pulled her close until she stopped crying. 

“It came out of nowhere,” She sobbed, “It hit me and… and I pushed it and it got covered in ink.” Henry kneeled down and wiped the tears from her eyes. He sat there with here until she stopped crying.


	3. 6 Eensy weensy tasks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice Angel has an agenda for Henry and Elizabeth, one that should end in freedom. All they have to do is six tasks for her. That easy. Nothing could go wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the long time between chapter 2 and 3. I'm hoping to get chapter 4 done quicker than this one. I now also have a consistent story plan. If I need to fix anything please comment as it helps me become a better writer. Same goes if you have any questions please ask.

Henry lifted his daughters arm and looked at the huge bruise on it. It seemed fine, but you never know. Henry ripped a bit of fabric off his sleeve and wrapped it around her arm.

“Thanks.” Elizabeth mumbled. She lifted her arm and wiggled her fingers. It didn’t hurt. She flexed her muscle. Nothing. She looked back at the spot where the piper had been. Then to her hands. 

How had that happened? Eliza looked to the receding blob of ink before following her father down the hall. 

Boris looked up and saw the two humans. He smiled before he saw the girls arm. It was bandaged. Was it like that before? He didn’t think so. He saw that her face was red and puffy. Boris looked up at Henry. He shook his head and mouthed I’ll tell you later. Boris nodded, even though he didn’t understand what Henry had said.

Alice Angel looked through her monitor at the humans and toon. The Boris. It was perfect. Just the thing she needed to be perfect. As they reached the elevator, she reached for the microphone and spoke into it. 

“You’re so interesting, So different. I have to say, I’m an instant fan. Looks like you’ve got a date with an angel. Come to me now. Level nine. Just follow the screams,” She said. Maybe she could get some work out of them, before she took Boris.

Elizabeth felt a hand touching hers and looked up. Boris had put her hand in hers. She smiled at him and rubbed her eyes with the other hand. 

The elevator came to stop and the doors creakily opened. The speakers crackled to life.

“Come on now, step out of your cage. There’s a whole twisted world down here.” The angel laughed, the speakers crackled, then turned off again.

The trio climbed out of the elevator and climbed down the stairs. Sitting on the shelf was another audio log. Eliza reached out and pressed play. This one was labeled Thomas Connor.

“These blasted elevators… sometimes they open, sometimes they don’t… sometimes they come… sometimes they keep on going to hell and back.

“I keep telling these people, if Mister Joey Drew keeps cutting corners like this, someone’s sure to end up falling to their death. And it sure ain’t gonna be me. I’m taking the stairs.” 

The tape stopped and they continued walking to the large door at the end of the room. The door opened and Boris ran through. 

“Boris!” Elizabeth yelled, running after him. She stopped and almost puked. It was just like the scene from the first floor.

Several Boris, piper, fisher and striker clones were strapped to tables around the room. The floor was a lake of ink, the only way to get across were tiny flimsy boards. Eliza grabbed the living Boris’s hand and gave him a hug.

Henry ran after the two. He knew what was in there. The horror Boris witnessed over and over again. He stopped behind them. They were staring at one of the dead Boris.

“Look around. It took so many of them to make me so beautiful.” Henry grabbed his daughters hand and they walked together.

“Anything less than perfect was left behind. I had to do it. She made me.” 

Elizabeth and Henry went through another door. This one led down to a hallway into another room. 

The first thing Eliza noticed was the piper on the slab. It was screaming. A high pitch scream. Calling for help.

She looked up at her father. He didn’t seem to notice. She looked back up at the angel. A thick black line of ink ran across her throat. She looked nothing like the cartoon. “Alice” reached over and pressed a button.

The torture machine turned off and Alice turned to the two humans.

“Hmm. Now we have come to the question. Do I kill you two? Do I tear you apart to my heart's content? The choices of the beautiful are unbearable. How’s a girl to choose?”

Her eyes flickered over toward Elizabeth, which made Henry give her a dirty look and move closer to his daughter.

“Take this little freak for instance! He crawled in here… Trailing his tainted ink to my door! It could’ve touched me! It could’ve pulled me back! Do you know what it’s like? Living in the dark puddles? It’s a buzzing, screaming well of voices! Bits of your mind… Swimming… Like… Like fish in a bowl.” 

“The first time I was born from It’s inky womb, I was a wiggling, pussing, shapeless slug. The second time… Well… It made me an Angel! I will not let the demon touch me again. I’m so close now. So… almost perfect. Yes, I will spare you. For now. Better yet… I’ll even allow you to ascend and leave this place. If you do a few eensy weensy little favours for me first. Return to the my little errand boy and girl. We have work to do!” 

The window slammed shut and the torture machine started again. Elizabeth could hear the pipers screams. They got louder and louder until she couldn’t stand it any longer. She covered her ears and ran from the room. Across the makeshift bridge. And into the elevator.

Boris watched as Eliza almost ran into him. She had her hands over her ears. He reached over and gave her a hug. He looked up to see Henry grab something from a capsule looking thing. 

Henry opened the door to the elevator and knelt next to Elizabeth and Boris.

“Eliza? You ok?” He asked her.

She looked up and nodded. Henry looked at her once before pressing the button for level K.

Henry looked over at Eliza before going to talk to Boris.

“Boris.” He whispered. “I want you to keep Eliza in the elevator. You know the dangers, I don’t want anything to happen to her. Ok?” 

Boris nodded and Henry went to tell Eliza. Boris moved over closer to Elizabeth and put his hand protectively on her shoulder. Henry opened the gate.

“Have you met him? The ink demon? They say he hears everything. Every creak of the floor. Every rustle of paper. I wouldn’t run so fast if I were you. You never know what will draw him.” 

Henry swung at the searcher that popped out of the ground right outside of the elevator. He took one look back at his daughter and friend before climbing up the stairs.

Elizabeth looked around the elevator for something to do. She was about to open the gate when the elevator suddenly lurched and went down.

Boris looked over at Elizabeth, who shrugged.

“I didn’t push the button.” She told Boris. The elevator came to a stop. Inky lines appeared on the walls. Boris started to cower and Eliza stood in front of him. 

The only thing that thought it could be was the ink demon. Well, if it was down here it wasn’t hunting her dad.

The ink demon walked out in front of the elevator and stopped. He turned and looked into the elevator at the toon and human. His smiling growing.

Henry pushed the button for the elevator and waited. He heard the clunking of it rising from wherever it went. When it came up he was greeted with a sight that made his stomach churn. Elizabeth was standing there, her face covered in blood, Boris kneeling beside her. 

Henry ran into the elevator and knelt beside her.

“What happened? Are you okay?” he said as he helped her clean off her face.

“The elevator moved down and bendy was there…”

“Bendy?”

“Ya, and the inky line things touched me and my nose started bleeding. After he left it stopped. Then the elevator came up.”

Henry pressed the button for level nine and sat beside his daughter. The speakers crackled again making Eliza jump. 

“Sammy said I had talent. He was always a good liar.” 

“Sammy? Wasn’t he the guy that used to come to the house?” Eliza asked. She leaned her head back against the wall. 

“Yea, he used to when you were about a year old. Until he just disappeared.” Henry said, as he copied Eliza’s pose. Boris looked over at the two and smiled as he sat down on the other side of the elevator. 

“Still he was once a very handsome man.” The speaker says. Eliza raised an eyebrow at that statement. The elevator shuddered as it stopped at level nine. Henry climbed out and walked up to the big metal doors. 

“Boris,” Elizabeth said, crawling along the floor of the elevator so she could sit next to him. “Can I ask you something?”

“Have you seen them? The swollen ones! They’re just stuffed full of extra thick ink. It makes me sick! And yet… it’s the perfect thing for keeping myself together. If you’re going to catch them, you’re going to have to learn to move quietly. Come back to my door. I have something that you’ll need.”

Henry grabbed the syringe and walked back to the elevator. The sooner he got this done the better. He pushed the button for level eleven and got ready for the searchers.

Elizabeth watched Henry leave before turning towards Boris. “Boris?” He looked up at her. Her mouth moved slowly and she looked at the ground. “How is everything alive. I mean, I have ideas but they aren’t very good thoughts.”

Boris looked at her and she heard him speak. It wasn’t out loud. More like thoughts, she couldn’t explain it. She listened to what Boris said, cringing. Eliza opened her mouth in shock when she heard how they were created. 

“If Joey used a human soul to create you…Whose did he use?” Boris looked out the bars of the elevator and yelped making Elizabeth jumped. Her father was lying at the end of the hall with a searcher looming over him.

**Author's Note:**

> I will probably edit a few thing but most of the story will stay the same. If you enjoyed please leave a kudos and a comment.


End file.
